Entourage Salon & Spa, Elmhurst

A different sort of review today than we've been doing, although I would like to note that this is intended to be for all sorts of places around the suburbs and not just restaurants!

Today I redeemed a gift card that was a Christmas present from my dear husband: enough for a massage at Entourage Salon and Spa in Elmhurst. It's at 111 Second St. (in the City Centre) and on the web at www.e-ntourage.com.

I'd been in want of a good massage for quite awhile, and let me tell you, Entourage got the job done.

My massage therapist was Mary Ann, a cheerful woman in scrubs who had a sort of mom/aunt vibe about her. She asked me a few questions about where my tension was, what I did or didn't want, that sort of thing. Then I was shown into the massage room to undress and left.

The room was nicely appointed but simple, with hooks for my clothes, wood-paneled walls and dim lighting. There was soft nature-sounds music playing, enough to set a relaxing mood and drown out any sounds from the salon.

Mary Ann did a wonderful job, asking for feedback on pressure and a few other things but largely working quietly to let me enjoy. And I did. The tension in my neck and shoulders is gone and when she was done I lay there blissfully, wanting either a nap or more massage.

The salon itself is very nice, with lots of light and comfy chairs and a cool transparent waterfall behind the front desk.

While I certainly can't afford to indulge every month, I think I will be returning to Entourage for a massage... and maybe a haircut or pedicure now and then!

Elmhurst awesome

Discovered the coolness of Elmhurst last night, rather accidentally.

My husband's birthday was last week, and Coldstone Creamery offers free ice cream for your birthday. Last night was our last night to use it, so we headed to the Elmhurst Coldstone rather than braving Woodfield.

And boy are we glad we did -- Elmhurst's downtown City Centre is really cool. It's a very walkable square mile or so (I'm guessing here) with restaurants, shops, a movie theater and a bowling alley -- one of those "hip," boutique-y looking ones.

Seriously, we were impressed. Lot of cool-looking restaurants ranging from white-linen fancy to Chipotle/hamburger stand type, some unique shops (magic, toy store, chess), and nicely landscaped pedestrian areas with cool decorated chairs and little painted cars for kids to sit in. We didn't even walk through all of it (as it was a bit chilly and we wanted to get home for Pushing Daisies) but we did grab a brochure which had a map and listing of all the shops and restaurants.

I'm only sorry we didn't see downtown Elmhurst sooner -- we'd driven through other parts of it, and new it was a nice town, but City Centre deserves a lot more attention. And we'll give it, I'm sure.